The Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing (ARM) Hub has welcomed the selection of the Australian Manufacturing Capability Network (AMCN) as an Industry Partner Organisation for the Industry Growth Program.
Australian government Minister for Industry and Science, Ed Husic, said several not-for-profit organisations will work with the Industry Growth Program to help participating SMEs bring new products and services to market.
The Industry Growth Program provides expert advice on commercialisation and early-stage business growth to start-ups and high-growth SMEs operating within the priority areas of the National Reconstruction Fund priority, and to help build Australian manufacturing for the future.
As an Industry Partner Organisation, the AMCN will complement this advice and add value to, and enhance the support provided to SMEs by offering specialised advisory services, drawing on its sectoral expertise.
Professor Cori Stewart, ARM Hub’s founder and CEO, said this was an opportunity to better enable SMEs and start-ups become global innovation leaders.
“On behalf of the AMCN, we are thrilled to be partnering with the Industry Growth Program. I would like to thank the Australian government for this opportunity, as well as our network partners for their commitment to strengthening sovereign manufacturing capability and growing the national economy,” Stewart said.
“Australian industry has a scale-up challenge resulting in a ‘missing middle’ of ambitious export-orientated SMEs and start-ups. Small businesses – which accounts for 93 per cent of all Australian businesses – have low levels of free cash flow and human resources that limit their capacity to invest in adopting and scaling innovation.
“The AMCN, which will be led by the ARM Hub, will help them by facilitating access to a comprehensive network of technology experts, world-class manufacturing facilities and equipment, and valuable commercialisation services,” added Stewart.
“We complement the role of the Industry Growth Program by offering deep technical support across the spectrum of ‘enabling capabilities’ such as robotics, AI, and autonomous systems.”
The AMCN is a collaboration between industry, government, and universities. Its members include the ARM Hub, Core Innovation Hub, the CSIRO, Flinders University, Swinburne University of Technology, the Queensland government, University of Technology Sydney, and Western Sydney University.
It is further supported by technology partners, specialist providers, and venture capital investors Advisory Board Centre, Data and Knowledge Enterprise (DKE), Defence Science Centre Western Australia, Friday Capital Partners, Johnson Winter Slattery, Paradigm Shift Asset Management, Partner Ventures, and Smartsat CRC.
It will act as a support and advisory service to the Industry Growth Program, helping companies in the program to overcome challenges associated with commercialising projects.
Further details about the AMCN will be released soon.
